Improvement in magazine fire-arms



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIcE.

JOSHUA GRAY, OF MEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, S. S. BUOKLIN, AND W. G. LANGDON.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGAZINE FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,068, dated April 17, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSHUA GRAY, of Medford, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Magazine-Rifles; and I do hereby declare that the following full, clear,

y and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, is sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention.

Figure l is a side elevation with the parts in position. Fig. 2 is a similar elevation with the parts removed and the magazine drawn.

The nature of my invention consists in the shape and arrangement and combination ofthe guard-lever, tumbling-block, and breech-block of a magazine-rifle both with each other and with the retractor. and retracting-link in anew mode and method of operating the relievinglinger, which discards the shells of the cartridges after they have been fired, and in an improved magazine and magazine-stop.

A is the guard-lever, pivoted on the guardpin p, and recessed on either side to receive the retractor fr and slotted tang t of the tumbling-block B. Upon a short neck on the upper side of the guard-lever is a cylindrical dowel, d, connecting the guard-lever with the tumbling-block.

vB is the tumbling-block, shaped somewhat like a bell-crank lever. It has a cylindrical mortise in its lower edge near its rearend, as shown, into which lits the dowel d ofthe guardlever. On its lower edge, near its forward end, is a slotted tang, t, about half as thick as the block, and sliding in the recess of the guard-lever A, its slot surrounding pivot-pin p.

In the top of the rear end of the tumblingblock is a inortise, g, to receive the rear end of the cartridge-carrier, and in the forward end is another for the cartridge-carrier. A cylindricalhole is made in the bottom of the tum- .bling-block to receive the helical spring s,

which presses asundcr the guard-lever and tumbling-block. The upper branch ofthe tumbling-block is about half as thick as the lower branch, and is mortised into the breech-block (l, as drawn, and is slightly recessed to allow the action of the retracting-link l.

The breech-block C is shaped, recessed, and mortised as drawn, w being the mortise of the relieving-Enger on the upper side of the block, m being the recess for the retracting-link, u the recess for the link-pin, o the mortise of the tumbling-block, t the central mortise of the cartridge-carrier, and 7c the front mortise of the cartridge-lifter. Becesses m and u and mortise o are in full lines, and mortises i, k, and in dotted lines.

F is the relieving-finger, serving also as a cartridge-guide, shaped as drawn, pivoted on pin e, and working in a recess of the abutment j. It has a tang, g, against which the breech-block strikes on throwing forward the guard-lever. The inner side of receiver-plate H has guideways w and c for the cartridgelifter and guide-pin z of the breech-block. At the openingof themagazineis placed a crooked finger, y, hinged as drawn, for a magazinestop. The magazine (see Fig. 2) has a case, a, tube b, spring c, follower j', and two set-screws, h h. The top of the spring presses against the muzzle end of the tube. Its bottom is fastened to the follower. The follower is fastened to the case, when the latter is drawn up, by the set-screws h', fastened to the case itself, and It, fastened to the follower, the tip of Il striking the head of h when the case is drawn out, but allowing the follower to -remain at any point of the tube necessary when the magazine is loaded, while the case is shut down and protects completely from dirt and air. The set-screws slide in a longitudinal slot in the tube. V 7" The operation of this gun is as follows: Guard-leverAis thrown forward. Tumblingblock B moves directly downward, depressing spring s and drawing with it breech-block O, guided by guide-pin z in guideway /v and by abutment j, till it is free from the perpendicular part ofthe abutment. Block C then moves back upon pin p as a pivot, pressed upward by spring s, and oscillating on the circular dowel at the upper end of the upper branch of the tumbling-block B, as compelled by guidepin z and the salient and re-entering angles of the abutment, against which its upper rear edge presses. Between angles l and 2 of the abutment recess n gears with the link-pin of the retracting-link, brin gingback the retractor,

while at the same time the cartridge-lifter is moved down in its guideway w by the action of mortise t' on the cartridge-carrier, and the rear end of the breech-block, striking tang g of the relieving-finger F, throws the iinger down to receive the shell drawn out by the retractor. A continuation of the movement of the guard-lever forward moves the cartridgelifter past the end of the magazine, anda cartridge is pushed out by the force of spring c past the magazine-stop y, which is thus folded over on the cartridge-lifter. We then move the guard-lever back, the irst effect of which is to make salient anglel of the abutment a fulcrum, as it were, and raise the forward end of the breech-block, thus raising the cartridgelifter quite rapidly, folding in the magazinestop, which, of course, forces into the magazine any cartridge which, from a defect of its own construction or that of the cartridge about to be fired, may project too far from the magazine. The upper yrear edge of the breechblock then follows the inclined planes of the abutment, and pin z slides in guideway o, slightly raising the cartridge-lifter till the cartridge is opposite the bore, when the said rear edge will have reached re-entering angle 2. In the meantime the flange of the cartridge will have caught the retractor, and the relieving-iinger will be act-in g as a cartridge-guide, being raised by the lifting of the cartridge and the upward motion of the breech-block. The rear half of the upper edge of the breech-block now coincides with the incline of' the abutment between angles 2 and 3, and on moving the guard-lever still farther back the breech-block is pressed forward against the end of the cartridge and forces it into the bore of the gun until the upper rear edge of the breech-block reaches salient angle 3, when the breech-block rises into its original place, carrying upthe cartridge-lifter and relieving-iin ger.

The motion of the breech-block is in my gun controlled by the motion of guide-pin z in guidewayic, as well as by the pressure of its upper rear edge against the irregularities of the abutment. Owing to the position of spring s with regard to dowel d and pivot-pin p and the upper branch of the tumbling-b1ock,it exerts its power to greater advantage on the tumblingblock than on the guard-lever, and thus raises the latter against its own pressure, giving animation to the last motion of loading and performing it automatically.V

To load the magazine, case va is drawn, as shown in Fig. 2, and cartridges are inserted f into tube b through an opening, S. Gase a is then pushed down over them, completely protectin g them from dust.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The shape, arrangement, and operation of guard-lever A, tumbling-block B, and breechblock C, and their combination with pivot-pin p and spring' s, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The arrangement ofthe relie-vin g-lin ger F and its tang g, in combination with the breechblock C, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. The arrangement of magazine-stop 1 in combination with the magazine and cartridgelifter, constructed and operating' substantially as described.

JOSHUA GRAY.

Witnesses:

I-I. FLOYD FAULKNER, FRANK SMITH. 

